Çanakkale

Çanakkale - Küçükkuyu Harbor

Çanakkale is a town and seaport in Turkey, on the southern (Asian) coast of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point.

The city has always been strategically important due to the reason of being a crossing point for armies, traders, migrating people since before history. The population of the town is 106,000. Çanakkale Province, like Istanbul Province, has territory in both Europe and Asia. Ferries cross here to the northern (European) side of the strait. The city is the nearest major town to the site of ancient Troy. Çanakkale has a Mediterranean climate with hot and dry summers and cool and rainy winters. Among the most popular are the cities of Troy, Assos, Alexandria Troas and the memorial of Gallipoli.

The service of education throughout the city is above the country averages. There are 13 high schools and a college. Onsekiz Mart University which is founded in 1992, has 9 faculties, 2 institutes, 2 vocational schools and serves more than 20,000 students. Eight percent of the population is college graduates.

Adatepe

Adatepe houses

Adatepe village, which is surrounded by olive trees and pine forests, is located on the far west slopes of the mythological Mountain of Ida. Besides the diversity of its rich flora and fauna, Ida is also well known for its high level of oxygen. Adatepe village is under protection as a natural and a historical heritage site since 1983.

Turks and Greeks lived together in Adatepe until the population exchange in 1923. After the departure of Greek families from Adatepe, immigrants from Lesvos and Crete inhabited the village. The history of the village traces back to hundreds of years ago and the altar of Zeus located near the village is a great evidence for the historical background of the human settlement in the village.

Today, the Ottoman mosque of the village and the tombstones of its cemetery are counted to be the witnesses of the history. Unfortunately, the Church and the Greek cemetery existed until 1940s, but lost in time. Some elderly locals still remember the days when the village was populated by 400 households and 8 pubs, 2 butchers, 6 groceries, 1 draper, 1 blacksmith, 3 barbers, 1 lighter, 2 tailors, 3 olive oil factories, 1 bakery, 1 reading-hall, 1 guest-hall, 1 committee hall and a cinema functioning.

Today, there are only 28 households in Adatepe.Olive farming and stock-breeding are the primary occupations in the village.During the project, the workshops will be held at Taşmektep which is a civil initiative based in Adatepe. Taşmektep offers training programs and workshops in a wide scale from mathematics to photography for adults from different professional backgrounds.

Ayvalık

Ayvalık streets

Ayvalık is a city in Northern Aegean, Turkey. It is located on the southern coast of Gulf of Edremit (part of Aegean Sea), across the eastern coast of Greek island of Lesvos, opposite its capital (Mytilene). Ayvalik was an important trade centre during Ottoman times, it had an autonomous status and even many European powers settled up consulates. The city then was almost completely inhabited by Greeks, who were exchanged with Turks from Crete when a population swap was mandated between governments of Turkey and Greece in 1923.

The fusion of local Greek and Cretan cultures caused the character of today’s Ayvalik: while most of the physical historical heritage is clearly Greek, the everyday culture lived on the streets between those buildings, including the local food, is mainly Cretan.Ayvalik’s ancient name was Kydonia. Although both Kydonia and Ayvalik mean ‘the place of quince’, the city is rather known for (and indeed surrounded by) a seemingly endless forest formed by olive trees. Olive has been important to Ayvalik in all ages, as it has been revered by both former Greek residents and present Cretan ‘immigrants’ (who have been living in Ayvalik for at least three generations).

Ayvalik is one of two bigger towns in northern Aegean Region which has achieved to conserve its traditional architecture. Ferries connect Ayvalik with the Greek island of Lesvos daily during the high season. In low and shoulder season however there are only 4 ferries per week.